IPL 7 auction: The big earners and the smart buyers

A lot of cash was poured in as the eight franchise made most of the opening day of the two-day auction. The highlight, however, was the bidding for Yuvraj Singh and Dinesh Karthik. After the end of the exhausting and tiring process, Yuvraj and Karthik find themselves richer by Rs 14 crore and Rs 12.5 crore respectively.

Apart from the Indian duo there were some foreign benefactors, who forced the owners to dig deep inside their pockets. A look at some of the expensive buys:

Yuvraj Singh (Rs 14 crore; Royal Challengers Bangalore): No form, no problem for Yuvi, as the handy all-rounder sits comfortably with a hefty IPL 7 contract. He will play for the star-studded Royal Challengers Bangalore unit and is expected to add more flavour to the colourful unit.

With Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers already in their ranks, RCB have now become a batting force to reckon with.

Dinesh Karthik (Rs 12.5 crore; Delhi Daredevils): A decent Ranji campaign and even better last year’s IPL with the Mumbai unit made the wicketkeeper-batsman a hot property in the auction. So hot that the Delhi Daredevils unit, who didn’t retain any player, decided to pay a handsome amount for the right-hander, who will return to the red colours.

You need any more reasons to pick this seamer in your squad? KXIP didn’t as they went all-out to include him in their team. There were speculations that Mumbai will use the ‘Right to Match’ card for the Australian speedster, but they decided otherwise. Mohali wicket and Johnson make a deadly combo. How it will turn out? Only time can tell.

The Punjab unit helped Maxwell earn another heavy pay-cheque as they stole his services for Rs 6 crore. Maxwell didn’t play much during last year’s IPL, but his performances during Australia’s tour of India for the limited overs series did serve a timely reminder to the IPL scouts.